Lasers such as fiber lasers are often used for materials processing applications such as welding. A conventional laser welding head includes a collimator for collimating laser light and a focus lens for focusing the laser light to a target area to be welded. The beam may be moved in various patterns to facilitate welding two structures along a seam, for example, using a stir welding technique. One way to move the beam for stir welding is to rotate the beam using rotating prism optics to form a rotating or spiral pattern. Another way to move a beam for welding is to pivot or move the entire weld head on an X-Y stage to form a zig zag pattern. These conventional methods of moving the beam to perform weld patterns do not allow quick and precise movements of the beam.